it’s shaping up to be a white christmas this year in maryland and that’s awesome. maybe you’re lucky and you’re from finland, or minnesota, or someplace with inuits, but down here, snow is special. almost precious. I’ve read that with global warming, temperate, high precipitation climates (like the US east coast, the united kingdom, and the pacific northwest) will receive more snow in the winters. which makes me wonder if I don’t secretly support a little more global warming?

because it’s just starting to snow, I decided to post some snowscapes from a ski trip to Utah a couple of years ago. the fun thing about the images is that they’re taken on the trusty, crusty old canon G9. for anyone who wanted a DSLR in their stocking but got coal instead … cheer up! you can take great photos with a compact camera, just learn to use it well. (more…)

back in september we took a trip down to shenandoah to see luray. luray is a tiny little town that probably hasn’t increased in population since the civil war, but it’s got one of the most magnificent cave systems in the country (not the biggest, but really beautiful). this meant the best of all things for me, testing out the 5D mark II in some really difficult lighting situations. like, total darkness.

you know you’ve finally settled into a new city when you discover your favorite restaurant. it’s more than a little like falling in love — it doesn’t happen when you intend for it to, or when you expect for it to, but suddenly you just know. well, tina finally became a DC resident for real this week when she discovered her favorite restaurant: founding farmers. it’s a restaurant with an enticing backstory (a co-op owned by 42,000 farmers across the united states) and an eclectic, enthralling menu. (more…)

just when you thought you were safe from hunger and yearning, here I am again with something to make your heart thud and mouth go slack. that’s right, a video celebration of the greatest chinese invention ever … dumplings. putting this whole thing together took me surprisingly less time than I thought; while I’m still not entirely happy with the grading I’m not sure how much better I can do out-of-the-box with adobe premiere elements, so it is what it is for now.

so … yeah, hiatus. things have been pretty crazy but I think it’s all been for a good cause. realizing my photography backlog right now is running all the way back to the texas trip and while I debated skipping over the remainder I realized instead the butterfly photos have some calming effect that I can totally use right now. maybe you can too. (more…)